Clowder
by Milkamoo97
Summary: Harry Potter has had a lonely and abusive summer having to face what happened in the graveyard with You-Know-Who all by himself. He goes back to Hogwarts expecting hate, friendship and snarky teachers but it happens in a way he, or even Trelawney, would have never foreseen. Cat!Harry DeAged!Harry, Drarry
1. Pain Bought In Loneliness

**Clowder **

**Chapter 1**

**~Pain Bought In Loneliness~**

**Hello mi amigos! I know these kind of de-aging and kitten stories have been done many times before but please give this story a chance! I hope that it will be different from some others that you have read:') **

**Just so you know, I guess this is kind of slash, I do love the Draco and Harry pairing but I will only write them as a couple (this is no 50 shades of grey people! *Snaps fingers in a z formation*) **

**Also, I guess there will be a little bit of Dumbledore bashing in here, I don't know why but I just love it at the moment haha:') **

**So yes, please give this story a chance, and if you like it or you have any suggestions for my writing, please leave a review in my little review box! **

**Also a fun little fact, I named the story Clowder because did you know that is what a group of cats is called? Haha how funny! Clowder…so yeah, hope you enjoy it! :) **

**Thanks mi amigos! **

**Disclaimer: I am a useless Muggle, since I didn't receive my Hogwarts letter therefore I do not own anything:'(  
**

* * *

_"When a good man is hurt, all who would be called good must suffer with him"_

_-Euripides_

* * *

It was the first day of the term in a new year at the school of witchcraft and wizardry- Hogwarts. The Headmaster of the school, Albus Dumbledore, was sitting alone in his office unwrapping yet another lemon drop. He was thinking over last nights sorting, he noticed that there seemed to be many more Slytherins this year. Although that was no bother since there were still plenty of new students in all the other houses as well as well as the old students.

Severus Snape eyed his potions class in disgust. Of course the first lesson of the year- which just _had_ to be on a Monday- was double potions with the fifth year Slytherins and Gryffindors. Oh what joy. It was no secret that he didn't like the Gryffindors, especially the know-it-all Granger, the stupid Weasley boy and of course the ever so arrogant Potter. He couldn't even be bothered to deal with the antics of his own Slytherins.

"Today, we shall be brewing the _simple_ Animagi Potion" Snape sneered. "Now, any dunderheads that somehow manage to screw this up will be spending the next week in detention"

All the Gryffindors gulped and the Slytherins smirked thinking that they were all safe.

Harry Potter sighed. He knew that getting detention was inevitable. He was fairly good at potions, if he was left alone. Harry found it was much like cooking, which he always had to do at the Dursleys. At the Dursleys whenever Aunt Petunia decided to 'supervise' him, he got extremely nervous and always managed to screw up causing him to get a punishment from Uncle Vernon. It was exactly the same in Potions. Whenever Snape decided to breathe down his neck, Harry gets nervous and screws up the potion- also expecting punishment except at school it wasn't such a corporal punishment like at the Dursleys. Not to mention that the Slytherins liked to throw ingredients into his cauldron- much like Dudley whom liked to do the same thing when he was cooking, or push Harry into the gas or hot grease. Harry sighed, this summer was worse than ever before at the Dursleys and it was affecting him more than usual. Any unexpected touch resulted in a flinch and any spare time resulted in horrific memories making their way back into Harry's brain, no matter how hard he tried to forget them. Any shadow either turned into the looming form of Uncle Vernon with a manic grin on his face, or the blank, pale face of Cedric with the whispering words _Kill the spare. _

So to keep himself busy, Harry decided to focus on his studies and was trying extra hard in all of his classes-especially Potions.

Snape's booming voice broke Harry out of his thoughts. "As I am in a rather foul mood today I shall be picking your partners for this assignment."

Most of the class groaned at this however Snape was confused to see that Potter was being unusually silent and not whining about the unfairness of the current situation like his peers.

Harry on the other hand was glad he didn't give Snape any reason to criticise him, given his current mood. The snarky professor was shouting out names and Harry immediately noticed the pattern. Snape was pairing up Slytherins with the Gryffindors. It was almost as if he _wanted_ everybody in detention and he must have been in a worser mood than Harry thought if he was also torturing the Slytherins.

"Malfoy. Potter" Snape spat, ending the list of partners.

"Now, this potion will take an hour for the first part to be prepared and brewed. It will then need to sit for half-an-hour, _do not_ waste this time. The last part of the potion can be brewed in fifteen minutes. That gives you fifteen minutes to test the potion. Further instructions are on the board. Go." Snape ordered.

Everybody jumped up not wanting to anger the Potions Master further. Harry collected his things and made his way over to where Draco was sitting, figuring that the blonde aristocrat would not be moving his way any time soon. Harry sighed inwardly as he set his bag on the floor and his books on the table. He could not give in to Malfoy's taunts, he needed a fresh start this he was just too _tired_.

"Potter" Draco greeted.

"Malfoy." Harry returned. "I'll go get the ingredients."

"Oh, are you sure? Wouldn't want you to run into the Dark Lord on the way" Draco snickered along with some surrounding Slytherins, hoping to get a rise out of the other boy but Harry simply sighed and stood up to go and collect the ingredients.

Another thing that Harry hated about this year. Half of the school hated him and thought he was crazy for announcing the return of Voldemort and the other half thought he was just trying to get more attention. He silently gathered up the ingredients they needed and made his way back over to his working station.

Draco on the other hand was curious as to why the boy didn't retaliate. In fact, he hadn't seen Potter interact with anybody yet except for the occasional greeting he offered to some people. He wasn't worried for the Gryffindor. No. He just wanted his enemy back who he could insult and then be insulted back- was that too much to ask?

He put these thoughts to one side and set up the cauldron and the fire. It was just at the perfect temperature as Potter came back with the ingredients.

They worked in silence for the first hour- shocking just about everybody- Harry preparing the ingredients and Draco throwing the correct amount in. Occasionally Draco gestured for Harry to stir, but all in all both boys thought that the first part of the potion went pretty well.

Draco was surprised to hear Potter ask a question softly "How will we know when thirty minutes has passed? Do you have a watch?"

"No Potter" Draco sneered "I will cast a charm which will tell us when the time is up"

To prove his point, Draco swished his wand and softly muttered an incantation, and a countdown appeared in front of them.

Harry nodded and replied "Ok, when it has been twenty minutes, I'll collect the rest of the ingredients and start preparing them so we can add them in straight away"

And with that Harry was silent once again and pulled out a couple of books from his bag along with some parchment and a quill.

Harry was reading through his books and making notes, oblivious to the stares he was getting. It wasn't until five minutes later when Snape strolled over and plucked the book away from Harry, that he actually directed his attention on to the Professor.

"Mr. Potter" Snape snapped "Why is it that you are reading a first years potions textbook?"

A few sniggers were heard around the room and Snape proudly thought that he had once again humiliated the boy.

But Harry answered "I was trying to use this time productively, Sir. It's obvious that I'm not good at Potions, so I thought I'd go over some old material to try and catch up."

"Hm, well I suppose that is rather…intelligent for _you_, Potter. Finally realised the importance of Potions for your future auror career" Snape sneered. _Just like his Father. _

"..Erm, actually Sir, I've been thinking about going down the medical route and becoming a Healer" Harry responded quietly, effectively shocking Snape.

Snape shook out of it, reminding himself that this was still the _Potter brat_, and told him "Well, on you get, Potter."

Harry nodded and accepted his book back but Ron was having none of it.

"WHAT?!" he shouted.

Only Draco and surprisingly Snape noticed the small flinch that Harry gave, both coming to the same conclusion that Harry was acting rather oddly.

"Mate, we're meant to be auror's together, it's our dream." Ron reminded him.

"It was your dream that I followed, Ron. I've had a lot of time to think and I know what _I_ want to do with my life now." Harry replied firmly.

"Oh and when did you decide all of this?" Ron fumed.

"As I said, I've had a lot of time to think. _Especially _over the summer." Harry shrugged but Draco knew that something was bothering him. The whole trio actually, did they _actually_ fall apart over the summer?

"But why a Healer?" Ron yelled.

Everyone thought that Harry had ignored Ron's last comment but only Draco managed to hear Harry's whispered response "Because for once I want to save lives instead of killing them."

Harry went back to his work but Draco was finally realising how hard the past year was on the Gryffindor. First he gets into a deadly tournament and everybody turns on him thinking that he cheated. Then he has to go through all sorts of challenges including dragons and mermaids. And then he witnesses Cedric being murdered and the Dark Lord being reborn. Then having to duel with the snake faced git, only to then manage to escape with the dead body to be slandered and called an attention seeker, a liar and a faker. Of course, Draco only knew most of these happenings because of what his Father told him. Not to mention all the previous years with all the rumours of his past adventures. He was honesty surprised the boy had only _just _begun to crack.

Draco silently watched as the mudblood, Granger, came over- Harry's attention once again being taken away from his textbook.

"Harry, please talk to me." She sighed.

"I'm sorry but I'm busy right now-" Harry tried to get rid of her.

"_Harry." _She warned. "Please, I'm worried about you."

"Not one single letter." Harry muttered and Draco wondered what he meant but it was obvious that Hermione knew due to the sad look on her face.

"I'm so sorry Harry-just please…"

"Can we talk later? I need to focus on this potion." Harry told her.

Without waiting for her response he got up and went over to where the ingredients were. Hermione didn't notice Draco, she just sent a sad look over to Harry and then returned to her own potion.

* * *

Harry couldn't bring himself to be angry. Angry reminded him too much of his Uncle. No, Harry could only feel disappointment. He was left at the Dursley's _all_ summer and he was just as pleased as his relatives were about that. And if that wasn't bad enough, he didn't have any contact with any of his friends for the whole summer either. He sent them many letters, he even reached a point of begging for them just to reply, but none were replied to. It reminded Harry of the summer after his first year. However there was no rescue this time round, not when he really needed it.

Shaking his head of the thoughts, Harry turned to the chalkboard, but Snape's italic writing was very hard to read, for him anyway. He couldn't tell if the last ingredient was a moon lace root or a moon lace leaf. He grabbed the first one he saw which happened to be the moon lace root. Both ingredients were obviously from the same plant so how much difference could it make?

He made his way back over to Draco who on sight huffed at Harry as he put down the ingredients.

"About time." he snapped.

"Sorry, I couldn't see if Snape wrote moon lace…" but Harry never got time to finish his apology.

"Never mind Potter. We have five minutes to get this all prepared before it _has_ to go in the cauldron." Draco rushed grabbing some ingredients from him.

Once again they both worked in silence, the only noise from Draco asking for ingredients that needed to be put in.

"Has the moon lace been crushed with the newts eyes?" Draco asked impatiently.

Harry nodded, looking a little green, and passed the mixture to Draco. The one thing Harry hated more than anything in potions, even Professor Snape, was having to crush eyes. He hated the squelchy feeling and how it seemed to be looking at him and accusing him. Bleh.

"Perfect." Draco mumbled as he tipped the mixture in. "Now, we just need to stir anti-clockwise five times and it will be complete for _you_ to try."

Harry just nodded, not really listening to Draco, until he realised what he just said. "Wait, what do you mean by 'for you to try'- you're trying it too, right Malfoy?"

Draco chuckled. "No Potter, this project only requires _one_ out of the pair to try it. I do not wish to spend the next few hours as an animal, therefore you're taking it."

"But-" Harry tried to argue but he just couldn't be bothered.

This admittedly annoyed Draco more than he thought it should have. Draco raised an eyebrow, desperate to get some sort of reaction out of his enemy. "Aren't you meant to argue back? Demand that I take the potion?"

Harry shrugged. "What's the point?"

"Because it is what you are meant to do Potter!" Draco told him, raising his voice slightly.

"Yeah, I'm _meant _to do a lot of things." Harry sighed.

Before Draco could question this and Harry's strange behaviour, Snape had demanded the attention of the class.

"Now, everyone should be finished. If not, well, you shall be serving a detention. One out of the pair shall be drinking the potion- _I _will be picking." he told everybody, making a lot of the students gulp in fear. "You will be in your animagus form for an hour- providing that you have brewed it correctly."

Harry looked behind him, sure that he had heard a was right- his fellow Gryffindor, possibly the only person that believed him about the Dark Lord, Neville Longbottom was sitting behind him and was understandably nervous about his potion. Neville wasn't the best at potions, his many failed attempts and blown up cauldrons proved that.

"You ok, Nev?" Harry whispered, concerned for his clumsy friend. Neville smiled, what he thought to be encouragingly, but another whimper escaped him when Snape bellowed "Goyle, you first!"

Dean in front looked relieved that he wasn't chosen. Goyle bravely gulped down a vial of the potion and to his surprise he quickly shrunk down into a frog.

"Congratulations." Snape drawled, not sounding celebratory at all. "You've managed not to screw up."

Snape crossed the room over to Ron's table and snapped "Weasley."

Ron took a deep breath and slightly glared at the vial, as if it was the potions fault, and swallowed it. He sprouted one fiery, red wing and a beak but didn't transform fully.

"Weasley, Crabbe, detention tomorrow night." Snape barked and stepped down to Hermione's table. "Parkinson, your turn."

She swallowed the potion and Hermione was glad that it worked, although there was not much chance of her brewing it incorrectly, even if Pansy wasn't too happy about being turned into a pug dog.

Snape nodded and went to Seamus' table. "Finnigan."

Seamus sprouted some kind of horse ears and zebra stripes tattooed all over his skin. "Oh damn."

"Detention you two, Wednesday night, another one for you Finnigan on Thursday for your uncontrollable, potty mouth."

Snape looked around the rest of the class, choosing his next helpless victim.

"Potter." Snape decided.

Harry sighed and took the potion. Of course it would be _him_ that Snape chose, but with Malfoy as a partner, everything should turn out fine. He suddenly felt ears grow on top of his head and a sensation in his tailbone, which happened to be his tail growing.

"What? I brewed this perfectly!" Malfoy scowled.

"I'm a cat- out of all the animals- and I am a harmless feline." Harry muttered to himself but Draco ignored him.

"How did this happen?" Draco turned to Harry. He couldn't believe it, he _never_ messed up a potion. Potter must have ruined it on purpose.

"I don't know!" Harry answered quickly, but then he felt a spasm in his stomach. "I don't feel too good."

"Don't change the subject, Potter!" Draco shouted.

"No seriously, I think something in the potion didn't react well with me." Harry told him, doubling over to help ease the pain in his stomach.

"Wait." Draco said suddenly remembering. "What part of the moon lace did you end up putting in?"

"The root."

"WHAT?" Snape yelled. "Draco, how did you not spot the difference? I thought _you_ would have noticed that the leaf is silver and the root is brown."

"It was already crushed with the newts eyes when I saw it!" Draco defended himself.

Harry wanted to argue and say that he tried to say to Malfoy that he was confused between the two, but another round of pain stopped him.

"Mr. Potter, are you aware of how much danger you have put yourself in, you insolent boy." Snape spat, getting less polite and angrier at the end of his sentence.

Snape was, of course, expecting some sort of comeback from Potter. Some sort of poor defence but the only return he got was a pained expression on Harry's face.

He sighed and told Draco. "Take him to the hospital wing, _now._"

However, before either of the boys could make a move to step forward a bright light surrounded Harry. Then in the next second it was gone, leaving no evidence that it had actually been there except for a small boy with cat appendages who was curiously gazing around the room.

**There it is mi amigos! I hope you liked it and please remember to leave a review telling me what you thought! I've just started college so I can't promise that the next chapter will be up soon but I am writing it now if that helps:') **

**I'm also writing a Harry Potter Characters read the books fan fiction at the moment, it's called **_**Pages Of Our Lives**_**, so if you're into reading ones like that please read mine and let me know what you think! **

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**Until next time, mi amigos! **


	2. The Freak

**Clowder**

**Chapter 2**

**~The Freak~**

**Hello mi amigos! Thank you for the response to my first chapter! I'm so glad that you enjoyed it! **

**A massive thank you to: misteeirene- **_Thank you! _**icequeen2897- **_Thank you so much! Glad that you liked it :D _**Yuujiro Hiromi- **_Thank you! I'm glad that you liked it, hope you like this chapter too! _**Padfootette-**_Thank you! Ps, I love your pen name! :3 _**Yui- **_Aw thank you! Sorry but here is the next chapter! Hope you like this one too! _**Nekobaby1997- **_Thank you! _**The weasel is MINE XP- **_Here it is! :D _**hunnylover- **_Hehe here is the next chapter! So happy that you liked the last one! :D _

**Here is the next chapter! **

* * *

_"The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you will see."_

_-Winston Churchill_

* * *

To Snape, the boy looked as though he was two years old. His big green eyes- Lily's eyes- were taking in every aspect of the room, his body rigid as if preparing himself for an attack. The boy looked _too_ skinny, as though he had been underfed, he looked terribly pale- sickly even. Surely this wasn't _the_ Boy-Who-Lived. The pampered prince whose relatives bowed to his every whim.

He knelt down in front of the boy and softly spoke, remembering his reaction to Weasley's volume and tone of voice earlier in the lesson, "Hello."

The class looked shocked, especially the Gryffindors, that Snape- the greasy dungeon bat- could be nice and was willing to be.

"Hi." Harry whispered back shyly which made some of the girls coo in his direction.

"Do you know where we are?" Snape asked, the boy simply shook his head.

"Ok, I'm going to ask you some questions now to make sure you haven't lost your memory- can you answer them for me?" Snape asked, mentally cursing himself for rambling but the boy seemed to be able to understand general things and respond. Obviously Snape knew that the boy wasn't a two year old but then why did he look like one? Harry sat seemingly contemplating Snape's question before he quickly nodded.

"What is your name?"

Harry looked down ashamed and quietly answered "I don't know." Snape feared that he could have amnesia but the reason as to why he was nameless was far worse than he ever could have guessed. "Auntie and Uncle calls me Freak or Boy…am I FreakBoy?" Harry continued.

Everybody was shocked into complete silence, this was the life that their saviour had to endure? A life where he didn't even know his own name?

Snape quickly corrected the crestfallen boy. "No, you have a different name. Your parents named you Harry."

Little Harry looked up at Snape with unshed tears in his eyes and Snape wondered what he had said wrong. He wasn't sure how much longer he could keep up his patient facade, he was not normally a patient man and the things that he was hearing about Potters relatives were destroying that patience.

"Hey, hey, what's wrong?" He asked Harry.

"I-I hads a mummy and daddy? But Auntie said I no allowed mummy and daddy 'cause I is bad." Harry whispered, a lone tear ran down his face. Even though it was said in a hushed tone, everybody still managed to hear it along with their hearts breaking a little.

"No Harry." Snape replied firmly. "She was wrong. You have a mummy and daddy- they were Lily and….James Potter." Snape continued trying not to sneer at the name James Potter. "And they loved you _very_ much."

"T-they did?" Harry stuttered, more tears racing down his cheeks.

Snape nodded. Being a spy he never allowed to let himself get emotional. He was a hard, stoic sort of man but even he nearly broke down at the boys next heart wrenching question. "But why did they leave me? Was it 'cause I is bad?"

"No, child. You are _not_ bad. They didn't go by choice, they were taken away by a very…nasty man." Snape told him avoiding the use of the word 'bad' fearing that Harry would associate it with himself.

Harry nodded, absentmindedly stroking his newfound tail., believing him for now. But Snape had no doubt that the boy still thought degradingly of himself.

"Harry, child, could you tell me what you were doing before you got here?" Snape asked curiously.

He wondered if the potion had actually taken Harry back to when he was at the age he is now. If that was the case then Snape feared for his memory and if he would be able to regain it, and even if he did he feared how much of an emotional wreck the boy was going to be.

"I was in my cupboard, it was the first week of school this week! - But I was no allowed to go 'cause I did nots finish my chores." Harry explained sighing.

'_CUPBOARD!?' _Snape mentally screamed. _'What on earth were they thinking keeping a growing boy locked in a cupboard?'_

"What do you mean by cupboard Harry?"

"Thats is where I sleeps. I no allowed bed, only good boys get beds, bad boys with beds get eaten by monsters!" Harry told him his eyes widening.

"Oh Harry," Snape sighed. "And they didn't let you out to go to school?"

Harry shook his head. "I nots allowed out when I is being punished."

Snape was struggling to keep his voice calm, oh how he had failed his precious Lily and her son. How did he not notice the signs? He had taught the boy for what….five years now? Normally he could spot an abused child in ten minutes, how had he gone so wrong with this one? _'Because you refused to see it.' _

Putting his mental turmoil aside, hoping that the digression wouldn't have been too noticeable, he carried on with his questioning. "How old are you Harry?"

"I is four!" Harry beamed proudly.

Severus Snape usually prided himself on being not easily shocked or scared - coming from a past like his and having to deal with the Marauders throughout school taught him that - but the last few minutes had easily lost him his status as he didn't bother trying to hide his shock behind a mask.

"S-sir, can I asks you someting?" Harry asked cautiously.

Snape ignored the boys' bad use of English and replied, "Of course you can child, you can ask me anything you want."

That seemed to be the right thing to say because Harry looked up at Snape in awe. His Auntie and Uncle never let him ask questions, and they liked to remind him of that every time he dared.

"Why do I have a tail - likes a kitty?"

Snape allowed himself a small smile as though to calm the child, "There was a bit of an accident child, but there is nothing to fear, if you touch the top of your head, you'll find a pair of ears to match."

Harry lifted his little hand and plonked it on top of his head, letting out a small gasp when he tugged on his ears.

His happiness was short lived though when a frown made its' way on to his face.

"What's wrong?" Snape asked carefully, not knowing for the life of him what could have brought down the boys' mood.

"Auntie's not gon' be happy - she no likes animals or me - and know I is both!" Harry fretted chewing his lip anxiously.

Snape gently tugged Harry's lip away from his torturing teeth and muttered, "Hey, none of that now it's ok. It's a good thing that your Aunt is not here then isn't it? And you're not going back as long as I can help it." Snape promised.

Harry's emerald eyes brightened. "Really?"

"Really." Snape confirmed.

It was then when Harry seemed to notice everybody else in the room, who were staring intently at the pair on the floor. He crawled towards Snape who easily picked him up and put him in his lap, this was the right thing to do because as Snape guessed he would, Harry hid in his robes for comfort.

"Who they?"

"This is my class." Snape told him. "There is no reason to hide child, they are _all_ very nice. I'm sure that they'd like to be your friends." Snape's voice was laced with a warning to everybody in the room - be friendly or deal with an angry Snape. Unfortunately the brave and noble Gryffindors had seemed to have lost their voices as they all still seemed to be in shock and of course the Slytherins didn't want to go near the Boy-Who-Lived.

Snape turned his head towards his godson and gave him an icy glare, that glare promised bad things if Draco didn't do as he wanted.

Knowing that it was futile to ignore his godfather, Draco sighed and knelt down next to the man and the cat boy in his lap.

"Hello Po- I mean Harry. I'd very much like to be your friend." Draco spoke softly trying to copy his godfathers' tone of voice.

The child lifted his head and looked at Draco with curiosity.

* * *

Draco was horribly reminded of first year, how he was embarrassed - no publicly _humiliated_ - and rejected by the Golden Boy. He figured that this was bound to go down the same route and cursed the Fates for making history repeat itself.

"My name is Draco." He added as if it would help.

"Y-you wants to be my friend?" Harry asked.

Draco nodded, feeling more inferior by the minute as Harry's bright green eyes bored into his. _'Pull yourself together, you're a Malfoy for crying out loud!' _He mentally shouted at himself.

"I has never hads a friend before." Harry admitted to him shyly.

"Well, I would be honoured to be your first friend Harry." Draco smiled.

"Really?" Harry beamed.

Once again, Draco nodded and then suddenly he was attacked by a hug from the small cat boy.

"My first ever friend." Harry whispered proudly and tightened his hug, just in case Draco decided that he was too much of a freak and didn't deserve friends.

Draco returned the hug, honestly shocked by the turn of events even if his well placed mask didn't let that show, and stood up - still holding Harry in his arms. This somehow managed to pull the Gryffindors out of their shocked states and they all started complaining loudly at once.

Harry whimpered and tried to snuggle further into Draco, but only succeeding to hide his face into his friends robes.

"Are you okay little one?" Draco whispered.

"Too many peoples, I never beens in the same room as this many peoples. Too loud." Harry explained.

"But Harry is _our_ friend! Why isn't he here with us?" Ron shouted, easily being the loudest of all the lions.

Harry whimpered again, Draco was attempting to soothe him but it obviously wasn't working, knowing that it probably wouldn't anyway. He had never handled a child before, he had no idea of what to do or what to say. Not to mention that this child was his former enemy now turned friend.

"Shouts bad. Shouts mean bad freak. Bad freak." Harry scolded himself for no reason, tugging at his hair.

Draco pulled Harry's hand away from his hair, looking desperately over to his godfather for help on what to do.

"No, no Harry. You are not a freak. You are not bad." Draco told him firmly and ended up chanting it to try and soothe the child and get him to calm down.

Snape on the other hand had a different idea on how to approach the situation. "_Silence_ you complete bunch of baboons!" Snape demanded.

On cue the class stood still. Although being the most feared professor wasn't the best social status, Snape had to admit it did have its benefits.

"Now, Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Potter shall accompany me to the Headmasters office. I want everybody else to start on their homework - and I don't want there to be a sound. I will know if there is and for every sound fifty house points shall be deducted - no house is excluded…" Snape warned.

Feeling good about the fear he installed into his students, Snape billowed out of the room his robes impressively following behind. Not wanting to keep his godfather waiting, Draco shifted Harry in his arms to make it more comfortable to hold him and followed Snape out of the room. He had no idea how to calm Harry down. On the outside he looked calm but Draco could tell that the cat boy was anxious because his tail was wrapped tightly around his wrist and is ears were instinctively lying flat on his head. During the journey Harry seemed to warm up to Draco more and with every small gasp the Gryffindor gave when he saw a moving and talking portrait or when he caught a glimpse of the outside through a window, Draco couldn't help but smile down at him.

The Good, Golden Gryffindor seemed so innocent and loveable. Draco didn't know how Harry's relatives had the nerve to hurt him and keep him locked away.

"Dway?" Harry whispered.

Draco looked at Harry with a raised eyebrow. Dway? What in the name of Merlin was a Dway?

Harry's eyes widened, thinking that he had done something wrong and started apologising profusely. It was then when Draco realised that '_Dway' _was supposed to be him. He hated nicknames with every fibre of his being but he had to calm down the part cat in his arms.

"No, no Harry - it's ok!" Draco tried to soothe him, once again failing miserably. "Nobody has ever given me a…nickname before…" _Except Pansy. Gah, that woman is unbelievable. Just wait until she hears about this. _"I was shocked. B-but I rather like it. Yes, it is very special and to…honour that only _you_ are allowed to call me it. Ok Harry?" Draco told him.

Harry looked at Draco curiously, trying to detect any hint of a lie. Meanwhile Draco mentally slapped himself - why on earth was he, Draco Malfoy, trying to soothe a de-aged Potter? _'It's just because I want my enemy back.' _Yes, that was the reason. The cat bot seemed to accept what he said which made Draco inwardly sigh in relief.

Finally they reached Dumbledore's office and Snape spat 'Lemon Drops' at the gargoyle, obviously disgusted with the Headmasters choice of password.

"Stupid, bumbling fool." Snape murmured. However Draco felt as though this was more to do with how Harry had been treated by his supposed relatives rather than the password.

An awed _'Wow!' _came from Harry, who - unlike Snape - was amazed by the moving staircase. But then again, Draco guessed that most young children would be.

"Did you like that Harry?" Draco chuckled as he followed after the irritable potions master.

Harry nodded enthusiastically, "It was like magic!" He exclaimed.

Draco didn't dare think why, but he was oddly happy seeing the glee in the cat boys' eyes but then suddenly Harry clamped his tiny hand over his mouth, his eyes widening in fear, and made small whimpering noises.

"Harry? What's wrong _now?_" Draco asked exasperated.

Draco was seriously starting to think that Potter must be bi-polar. One minute he was perfectly fine and happy and the next he was crying and incessantly apologising.

"I saids the _M _word! I is sorry, I really is Dwaco. Please don'ts lets them use the belt! Please Dwaco!"

"Hey, hey, it's ok. Calm down, that's it." Draco told him slightly bouncing him up and down. He felt sick at the new revelation and he knew that if he didn't ask the questions burning is mind then it would haunt him. "I will _never_ hurt you Harry. I promise you that…"

"…Pinky promise?" Harry asked innocently.

"…What?"

Harry lightly gripped the hand that was supporting his back and linked their two pinky fingers.

"Pinky promise." Harry repeated.

"Right." Draco coughed feeling silly. "Yes."

"Pinky promise!" Harry insisted, his wide eyes somehow getting bigger.

"Ok, ok, I pinky promise." Draco gave in.

Harry smiled slightly to himself and shook the linked fingers a couple of extra times.

"Erm, Harry. Can - can I ask you a question?"

Harry's head snapped up so his eyes met Draco's. '_Dwaco wasn't going to take back the pinky promise was he?' _ Harry fretted. _'Who would want to make a promise with a freak like you anyway.'_

Draco noticed Harry's eyes dulling but he knew that he would never build up the nerve to ask the question again. The cat boy nodded solemnly not wanting to hear about how much of a freak he was.

"This is really serious, ok Harry? I need to you to answer this honestly. What did you mean by the belt, Harry? T-they didn't hit you with it…did they?" Draco gulped, already knowing the answer to his question.

He carefully started walking up the steps, knowing that Professor Snape would be angry with them if they didn't hurry up. Draco could tell from the glare in Snape's eye that he wanted to know what happened but Draco decided to inform his godfather later.

"Come on Harry, please answer me."

Harry couldn't help it, he didn't want his Dwaco to know how much of a freak he was and how he had to be punished. But then again, he reasoned, if his Dwaco knew then maybe he could make him better and not so much of a freak. "Only when I is being a bad freak and mention the word..m-magic because m-magic isn't real."

Before Snape or Draco could comment Dumbledore's cheery voice laughed from inside his office, "Enter please, it does no good to dawdle outside of doors."

Snape pushed the door open harshly and entered with Draco and Harry in tow. Before any words could be exchanged with the Headmaster Draco told Harry sternly, "Magic _is _ real Harry. If anybody tries to tell you otherwise then tell me and I'll set them straight. Also nobody is ever going to hurt you again, ok? I promise. I protect my friends - and I _will _protect you."

* * *

"Severus, my boy, who is this young fellow?" Dumbledore asked the damned twinkle never leaving his eye. He knew who this was, yes, it was his student Harry James Potter. This most certainly was an interesting development to Dumbledore. He noticed straight away how fiercely overprotective the young Malfoy had become of Harry. And judging by the cat boy's teary eyes and small hopeful eyes, Dumbledore guessed that he had become quite attached as well. The Headmaster knew that this was likely to ruin all of his hard work and careful planning over the years, but he knew how to keep control. Yes, the cogs in his old mind were turning as if they were brand new and recently oiled. Plans were forming and pawns were unknowingly being added to the mix.

"As if you don't already know." Snape hissed somehow already guessing what could be going through the old mans' head. "This is Harry Potter, Headmaster, as you can probably already guess - there was a bit of a potions accident."

"Ah yes, I _can_ see that. You were brewing the…animagi potion this week, correct Severus?" Dumbledore replied.

"Correct." Snape drawled. "Before you ask - yes I can fix it, I just need to test some samples of their potion. I just supposed that you would like to know."

"Yes, thank you for informing me Severus." Dumbledore smiled unnervingly, a million ideas floating around in his brain.

"I also have a matter to discuss with you, Headmaster, _privately_ of course." Snape sneered.

Dumbledore was confused as to what Snape could possibly want or be angry at him for, he hated not knowing but he had to stay in his grandfatherly role. " Yes, well, I shall send a Patronus to Miss Granger and Mr Weasley to come and collect young Harry - then we may have that discussion Severus."

"Who they?" Harry spoke up for the first time. He watched the encounter quietly - knowing how his Aunt and Uncle felt when they were interrupted, but he couldn't hold back his question. Especially when his Draco promised to protect him from now on.

"Why, Harry, they are your best friends." Dumbledore smiled.

Harry shook his head, what was this man talking about? "I only haves one friend sir. Dwaco sir! Can'ts I stay with Dwaco?"

Dumbledore sighed, "I'm afraid not Harry, I feel that it would be more beneficial for you to stay with your old friends. They will certainly be able to help you regain your memories."

"B-but Dway is my friend!" Harry protested. Harry was ashamed at his bad manners, his Aunt and Uncle had ingrained in him to never question anything - _especially_ one of their decisions. But Draco was his first friend and he didn't want to lose him, not so soon after finding him.

"I loathe to admit it Headmaster - but the child has become quite attached to Mr. Malfoy. Perhaps it would be better to place the child with him - unless you are suggesting that Slytherins cannot take care of the boy." Snape implied.

"No, no nothing of the sort Severus. It just won't do. He needs to be around things that are familiar to him. Gryffindor house for example, his friends…"

"Who he hasn't met with, or seen yet! Headmaster, this boy is _vulnerable_ and he has _one_ friend which so happens to be Mr Malfoy, and you're about to separate him from that?!" Snape snapped.

"Severus, that is my final decision on the issue. He will be staying with the Gryffindors and if young Harry does find it too distressing then we shall reevaluate the situation. Although I doubt that will happen." Dumbledore shouted, which was a shock to the blonde and the cat boy in the room. Dumbledore took a deep breath to calm down and then spotted the two young Gryffindors entering his office. "Ah yes, Miss Granger, Mr Weasley - glad that you could join us…"

* * *

**Yay! The end of the second chapter! Haha sorry it took so long to get out. Been super busy! I'm doing my A-Levels at the moment and they're going quite well - I got the highest score in my Law Test the other day so that is what has inspired me to start writing again! Hehe, also I am on half-term break so when I'm not studying or doing my projects I will be trying to write up the next chapters on my story. **

**UPDATE: If you were reading my story **_**Pages Of Our Lives, **_**then I am super sorry but it got deleted:( I think someone must have reported it or something, bad times! Anyway I won't be posting it on Fanfiction again because I don't want my account to be suspended or anything but it will be continued on Archive Of Our Own! My Penname is the same (Milkamoo97) and if you can I would love it if you checked it out there! **

**PLEASE READ: Also, I would love it if you guys could please, please review! I don't want to be a review nazi or anything but I really love hearing what you think and it does inspire me to write more so I don't let you down. It also lets me know if you actually like it or not and if it is worth continuing so please please PLEASE review! I always review any stories I read so it would be great if you could do the same for mine? Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, favourited and alerted! **

**Plus, if you guys write any Harry Potter stories then let me know! I'd love to read them:) And if anyone needs a beta reader then I am one, just to let you know:) **

**Until next time, mi amigos! **


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